Automatic electrical cut-out



13,1926, E AD Ms 1,592,321 I A AUTOMATIC ELECTRICAL CUT-OUT Filed March 8. 1924 idatented July 13, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT orriea KEVIN ADAMS,

OF NANTY GLO; IENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR h THREE-TENTES 3ft? A. H1. MGANULTY, 0F NAN'DY GLO, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC ELECTRICAL CUT-OUT.

Application filed March a, 1924. Serial No. 697,786.

This invention relates to improvements in auton'iatic cut-outs for electrlc switches and more particularly to a cut-out for employ-,

ment in connection with a polyphase motor. Heretofore difiiculty has been experienced and great expense incurred in the operation of polyphase motors as, for example, a tr1- phase motor, through breaking of any of the leads to the motor and due to the fact that, solar as I am aware, no automatic cut-out has yet been devised, which will operate with certainty to break the circuit to the motor and prevent the motor being burned out, In some types of cut outs designed. for employment intrhphase motors, a breakage of either one of two wires will resuit in automatic operation of the cut-out to completely open the circuit and cut-oil the supply of current to the' motor, but in the event of breakage oi the third lead, such cut-outs do not operate with certainty and there is extreme liability of burning out of the motor because of the continued supply or": current thereto after the motor hash-eased to function. It is, therefore, the primary obg ect of th present invention to provide anautomatic cutout which, while designed for employment in connection with a triphas"; motor may, by slight modification, be adapted for employment in connection with other polyphase motors and which will operate with certainty and automatically to break the circuit in the event ofbreakage of any one or more of the leads to the motor. I Another object of'the invention is to 'provide means insuring of a positive actuation of the switch blades of the device in the event of breakage of any of the leads to the motor so thatethere. can be no sticking of" the parts as might otherwise occur in the absence of such; means. I

Another/object of the invention is to provide for manual opening of the circuit in the event this should become necessary.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a view in elevation of the cutout embodying the invention, the casing for the mechanismbeing shown in section;

Figure 2 is a vertical 'front to rear sectional View through the cut-out taken substantially in a plane'midway between the endsot' the panel of the cut-out.

The out-out embodyin the invention comprises a panel 1 of ins'u ating material such 6 are led to andare electrically connect l as slate or the-like and which panel is prefierably of general rectangular form and has fitted thereto the open side of a casing 2 which is designed. to enclose the operating parts of the cut-out so as to exclude dust and other accumulations of foreign matter and to prevent tampering with the component parts of the cut-out. The polyphase motor, which in this instance is at the triphase type, is illustrated diagrammatically in Figure l of the drawings and is indicated by the numeral 3. Conductor wires 1-, 5 and 6 are connected to the binding'posts of the.

motor and serve to conduct cnrrent to the several phase windings of themotor. Fined upon the base of the panel 1 in a vertical series are insulating posts 7, and 9 which respectively support forked or bifurcated.

contacts 10, 11 and 12. The wires 5 with the several contacts 10, ll, 12 spectively, the wires beingled into thecasing provided by the cover member 2, in any suitable manner. The main leads or corn ductor' wires from the'sour-ce of current supply are indicated by the numerals l3, and l5 and they are connected, respectively to terminal contacts of the same character as the contacts 10, 11 and 12 and indicated respectively by the numerals 16, 1? and 18%., these contacts being mounted upon insulatingposts 19, 2 0 and 21 arranged in a verti cal series parallel and opposite to the series of contacts 19,11 and12. Thus the contacts and I16, 11 and 17 and 12 and 3.8-

are located opposite each'other in horizontal alinementg I 1 Mounted upon the panel 1 in vertical alinemerit-between the posts 7, 8 and 9, and 19, and 21, heretofore referred to, are insulating posts 22, 23 and 2d. :Pivotally supported-by the post 22 are switch blades 25 post24. The blades 25, 27 and 29 aredesigned to coact respectively with the com tacts 10, 11 and 12 and in their pivotal movement they are held in spaced relation and caused to move parallelism through the medium of a c0nnect1ng .bar 31- of insm and 26, the pivoted inner ends of the blades being in electrical contact with each other .blade 30, blade 29,

lating material such as fiber or the like. It will at this point be evident that in the downward swinging movement of the switch blades 25, 27 and 29, they will be simultaneously brought into engagement in the kerfs of the contacts 10, 11 and 12, respectively, and that in the upward swinging movement of the blades they will simultaneously disengage from the said contacts. The blades 26, 28 and 30 are designed to coact respectively with the contacts '16, 17 and 18. and they are connected for. movement,- in unison and in parallelism by means of acounecting member 32 which corresponds in unction and in arrangement to the member 31 and is of insulating material. At this point it will be evident that both series of blades are so connected thatcthey will move in unison but the two series may be moved independently one of the other.

' eferring now to Figure 1 is will be evident thatwhen the blades and 26 are in electricalengagement with the contacts 10 and 16,'respect1vely, current will flow from the conductor wire or lead 13 through the contact 16, blade 26, blade 25, contact -10, and through the wire 4 to one phase .winding of the motor 3. Similarl when the blades 27 and 28 are in electrica engagement with ,the contacts 11 and 17, current will flow through the wire 14, the contact 17, theblade v28, ithe blade 27, thecontact 11,and through" of am contact 12 and 18, current will the wire 5 to another phase windin e motor; and,-when the blades 29 and swung/downwardly into electrical with the ,contacts flow through the contact 12, and throuh the wire 6 to the third phase winding of t e motor. It is, of course, necessary, that when the motor is operating under normal con ditions, all of the blades 25, 26, 27, 28,- 29 and 30 be lowered into engagement with their respective contacts so that current will flow from the leads 13, 14 and 15 through I the blades and their respective contacts and through the wires 4, 5 and 6, respectively, to the several phase windings of the motor, and in order that this adjustment of the sev eral blades may be. automatically e'flected at the time the current is turned on, means is provided which will now be described.

The automatic adjustment of each set of three blades is accom lished through the energization of two s enoids indicated one. by the numeral 33 and the other by the numeral 34. The solenoid '33 comprises the usual winding 35 and core 36. A conductor wire 37 leads from the pivot for the switch blades 25 and 26 to one terminal of the winding 35, and a conductor wire 38 leads from the other terminal of the winding 35 to the pivot for the switch blades 29 and 3U, a manually operable switch, as, for example, of the single throw knife blade type,-

tion of the core 36. the solenoid winding will e against the tension of the said spring 4. It will likewise wire 15, the-'contact 18, v

'15 is likewise'connected. A manually indicated by the numeral 39, being interposed in the conductor wire 37, for'a purpose to be presently explained. At this point it will be evident that when the current is turned on, it will flow through the wire 13 to the contact 16, blade 26, and wire 37 to the winding 35 of the solenoid 33 and, passing through the winding and energizing the solenoid, will flow through the wire 38, blade 30, contact 18, and wire 15 back to the source of supplyr The energization of the solenoid winding will result in retraction of the core 36 and as this core is connected by a link 40 with an extension 41 of insulating material upon the free end of the blade 27, this blade will be swung downwardly. As the other blades 25 and 29 are caused to move in unison with the blade 27 .due to the connection 3-1, all of the said blades 25, 27 and 29 will,as a consequence, be caused to simultaneously electrically engage the contacts 10, 11 and 12. A tension spring 42 is connected at one end to the point of connection of the link 40 with the insulating extension 41 and atv its other end to a fixed stud 43 upon the panel and it will be evident that the retracthrough energization of be understood that upon de-energization of the windin of the solenoid, the sprin 42 will immediately act to positively with raw the core 36 and move the switch blades 25, 27 and 29 out of electrical engagement with the contacts 10, 11 and 12, respectively, until they assume substantially the position shown in Fi re 1 of the drawings.

'Tracingt circuits illustrated in Figure 1 it will be evident that when the current is turned on, the solenoid 34 will have its winding 44 energized simultaneously with the energization of the winding of the solenoid 33, inasmuch as a conductor wire 45 is tapped to the lead 14 and leads to one terminal of the said winding 44, a wire 46 being connected tothe other terminal of the solenoid winding and electrically connected to the contact 18 to which the lead 0 a erab'le switch 47 of the same type as the switch 39 is interposed in the wire 45. A link 48 is connected to the core 49 of the solenoid 34 and to an extension 50 of insulating material fixed to the outer end of the blade 28, a tension spring 51 being connected at its lower end to the connection of the link 48 with the extension 50 and at its upper end to a fixed stud 52 upon the panel 1. The spring 51 serves precisely the purpose of the spring 42 and it will now be evident that when the current is turned on'from the source of supply, both solenoids 33 and 34. will be energized thus efi'ecting a downward swinging movement of all of the switch blades into electrical engagementwith their respective contacts and The spring 42 will then immediately withdraw the core 36, effecting an upward swinging-movement of the switch blades 25, 27 and29 and thereby breaking the circuit I "to' the motor through'all three of the wires i, 5 and 6'. I Should'eithe r of the leads 14 or 15 become broken or disconnected the circuit through the windin 44 of the solenoid '34: will he broken and t is solenoid will be de energized whereupon the spring 51 will withdraw the core 49 and swing the three blades 26, T28 and 30 upwardly, thus'breaking the circuit through the wires 13, 14 and 15 to the wires 4 5 and 6 through the switch blades. It Wiii obvious, therefore, that a breakage or disconnection of any of the wires 13,14 and 15 will result in immediate antornetic operation. of the. cut-out to .pre vent any further flow of current through the wires which remain intact, and to the 1 motor so that there can he no burnin out of the motorwinding in the event of sue a contmgency. i

If for any reason it should become necessary to manually open the circuit, either of the manually operable switches 39 or 47 may be swung open, thereby respectively (leenergizing the solenoid 83 or the solenoid 34 and producing the same result as though the cut-out were operating automatically.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

An automatic cut-out for a polyphase motor circuit, thesame comprising a primary set of contacts, one for each phase of the motor, a secondary set of contacts for the current supplying lee-52s, a pair of switch blades for corresponclingcontacts oi the two sets pivotaliy connected and supported at their inner ends, independent means-conmeeting the blades of each set but insuiuted therefrom, electromagnetic operating menusfor one set of switch blades having the terminals of its windings connected with two of said primary set of contacts, electro-magnetic operating means for the other set of switch blades having the terminals of its windings connected withtwo of the secondary set of contacts, and means for disengagingthe switch blades from the contacts when either of the electromagnetic operating means becomes de-energised.

In testimony whereof It ZtiiiXHi Y signature.

ERVIN Aiiiiltifj. [L a] iii) 

